Destabilization of Africa: Coup in Mali

Corporate media pleads ignorance as "flickers" of Al Qaeda once again emerge. by Tony Cartalucci

March 22, 2012 - The North African nation of Mali, whose borders exist within the epicenter of recent Western-backed destabilization efforts throughout the continent, has French-backed war in Cote d'Ivoire on its southern borders and Western attempts to destabilize Algeria to the north.

Image: Mali, represented in green, is located just south of Algeria, west of uranium-rich Niger, and north of Guinea and the recently French-besieged nation of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast.)

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As recent reports of a military coup emerge, indicating that troops have seized control of the capital city Bamako, including the presidential palace, the flickers of Western-destabilization can be seen at play in the country's north. Labeled as a "Tuareg rebellion," the resulting violence from warfare in Mali's north has been cited as a contributing factor to the military's move to overthrow the government in Bamako, claiming the ruling government has left troops under-armed to deal with the increasing violence.

Western media cites "weapons left over from the Libyan civil war," as the impetus for "Tuareg" separatism. However, while it is true the nomadic Tuareg people exist in a region that includes Mali, southern Algeria, Niger, and parts of western Libya, it should also be noted that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operate in territory that almost perfectly overlays that of the Tuareg. AQIM are also the more likely recipients of Libyan weapons handed to them by their Libyan Al Qaeda affiliates, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who led the 2011 NATO-backed rebellion against Qaddafi.

Image: Two maps show both AQIM & Tuareg territory - with one overlaying very closely the other. This may be due more to the lawless nature of Tuareg territory, allowing AQIM to operate with impunity, rather than any sort of collaboration between the two groups. (click image to enlarge)

At one point, Qaddafi had almost entirely extinguished the movement [Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)], in particular LIFG, most of whose leadership fled, and ironically sought refuge in London, Langley, and Washington. Qaddafi would attempt to re-approach the West by abandoning his WMD programs and inviting Western intelligence agencies in to help counter the remnants of LIFG and other regional terror organizations. The CIA and MI6 instead, rearmed, reorganized, and redirected these terrorist organizations back at the Qaddafi regime culminating in the February 17, 2011 "Day of Rage" and the subsequent NATO intervention. Indeed, the US, UK, France, Qatar, and other NATO member states are overtly deposing Qaddafi in favor for a regime made up of hardcore terrorists.

In other words, a terrorist organization on its death bed, was intentionally brought back to life by NATO. Having done so, LIFG is already shipping weapons to another notorious terrorist organization in the region, Algeria's Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) (#37 on US State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations). Algeria, like Libya, has fought a long battle against terrorism at the cost of protracted unrest now known as the "lost decade." After a failed attempt at stirring regime change in Algeria through Egyptian-style street protests and internal defections, it appears the US through NATO is attempting to revive AQIM and initiate a violent revolution.

Already, Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution policy wonk and co-author of the "Which Path to Persia?" report engineering the use of terrorism to destabilize Iran, is licking his chops over the prospects of Algeria "being next." In a report, aptly titled, "Algeria will be next to fall," Riedel sets the rhetorical stage, just as he helped to do with Libya, for another "spontaneous" "indigenous" uprising, with the prospect of NATO, and more specifically, French intervention looming over them. In reality, as we can clearly see, AQIM would not be in any position were it not for NATO arming and handing a neighboring nation to their allies amongst Libya's LIFG.

AQIM shoring up bases outside of Algeria's borders would be essential for carrying out a Libya-style insurrection against the vigilant North African nation. Algeria had already thwarted attempts to fill its cities' streets with mobs of US-funded, trained, and directed youths and has battled AQIM terrorists for years. Bolstering the military capacity of AQIM and other extremist groups inside of Algeria would be a necessary prerequisite if ever the West expected to overthrow the nation as it has its neighbors.

What the meaning of the Mali military coup is in geopolitical terms still remains unknown. A stronger military posture aimed at breaking AQIM on the Mali-Algerian border would obviously work in favor of Algeria and contra the agenda of LIFG and AQIM's Western sponsors on Wall Street and in London. Conversely, a weakened, infighting Mali would only serve to further the agenda of AQIM and its Western sponsors.

Readers and researchers would best serve the truth by waiting for additional information before jumping to conclusions, watch the reactions and moves made by Washington, the various corporate-funded think tanks, and its mass-media apparatus, as well as keeping in mind that AQIM serves the same purpose in both Algeria and Mali, that NATO-backed LIFG terrorists do in Libya and now even in Syria.

Above all, we must not let the obscurity with which nations in Africa are treated invoke apathy, because in the creation of a global empire, even the farthest flung nations can play a pivotal role in either bolstering or obstructing imperialist ambitions.